Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional customs - How much do you know about couplets?

How much do you know about couplets?

Couplets, also known as antithesis, antithesis, spring stickers, Spring Festival couplets, couplets, Taofu and couplets (named after the pillars hanging in halls and houses in ancient times), are a kind of dual literature, which originated from Taofu. It is a antithetical sentence written on paper, cloth or engraved on bamboo, wood and columns. It is a unique art form of Chinese, concise and profound, neat and even, with the same number of words and the same structure.

Couplets are the treasures of China traditional culture.

The couplets hung during the Spring Festival are called Spring Festival couplets, and the couplets for happy events are called Qinglian couplets.

Couplets are a national style written by using the characteristics of Chinese characters, and generally do not need to rhyme (only the antitheses in the rhyme need to rhyme).

Spring Festival couplets have a long history. It is said that they originated from Meng Chang, the master of Shu after the Five Dynasties. He inscribed on the peach symbol on the door of the dormitory: "New Year's Eve, Qing Yu, the number of festivals, Changchun", which means the word "inscribed peach symbol" (see "Shu Lang"). This is the earliest couplet in China and the first Spring Festival couplet. The basis of this theory is that Liang Zhangju, a couplets scholar in Qing Dynasty, quoted Lang from Couplets Conghua. However, according to the textual research of the General Theory of Couplets, Liang Zhangju changed "Ci" into "Fei Ci" and "Shu Lang Lang" when quoting. Different historical materials in the Song Dynasty have different opinions on this, and some people classify the author as the son of Meng Yun. So who is the author of this pair of Spring Festival couplets is still an unsolved case.